 |
| "Home Delivery" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Stephen King | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction horror comedy short story |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Book of the Dead (1st release), Nightmares & Dreamscapes |
| Publication type | Anthology |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
"Home Delivery" is a short story by American writer Stephen King. It was first published in the zombie anthology Book of the Dead (1989) and later included in King's short story collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993).
The protagonist of the story is Maddie Pace, a timid and indecisive young woman who lives on a small island named Gennesault (or "Jenny"), off the coast of Maine. Maddie is both pregnant and a widow, having recently lost her husband in a fishing boat accident.
After a scattering of initial outbreaks, dead bodies all over the world begin to reanimate en masse and attack the living. The source of the phenomenon is eventually traced to "Star Wormwood", a bizarre alien construct orbiting above the ozone layer at the Earth's south pole. A space shuttle under joint American-Soviet authority visits the site and promptly meets with disaster. [1] After further attempts to destroy the object fail, the zombie plague spreads and civilization collapses.
Jenny's inhabitants gather up all the available firearms to prepare for their own attack, which all too soon erupts from the island's small cemetery. The island's men are forced to destroy their undead loved ones as they crawl out of their graves. The still-moving pieces of the reanimated corpses are then burned with kerosene and the remains plowed underground by a bulldozer. Frank Daggett, the elderly man who did most of the organizing of the successful defense, suffers a fatal heart attack and has himself blasted to pieces so he won't reanimate.
While she is hearing about the battle at the cemetery from her neighbor, Maddie recalls her own confrontation with the animated corpse of her husband, come back to get her from the bottom of the sea. She succeeds in destroying him/it and faces the future, however grim, with renewed confidence and hope.
There are some differences between the versions published in The Book of the Dead and Nightmares and Dreamscapes, none of which are significant to the plot. For example, the space expedition in the original publication was U.S.-Soviet; it is changed to U.S.-Chinese in later publication to reflect the end of the Cold War. [2]
A 2005 animated short of the story was directed by Elio Quiroga and produced by Guillermo del Toro. It was screened at RiverRun International Film Festival. [3] The short is a Dollar Baby film.
"Home Delivery" has been adapted by artist Glenn Chadbourne for the book The Secretary of Dreams , a collection of comics based on King's short fiction released by Cemetery Dance in December 2006.
In September 2009, the story was optioned as a theatrical release and was in pre-production. No release date has been set at this time.
 | This article needs to be updated.(March 2014) |
John and Paul Buckholts, of Our Thing Productions, have written the screenplay and Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura was scheduled to direct. [4]
George Beahm said that the story is "quintessential King" and that King writes the characters with "considerable skill and sympathy". [5]
Umney's Last Case is a short story by American author Stephen King, first published in King's collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993). In July 1995, it was published as a separate paperback as part of Penguin's 60th anniversary.
Nightmares & Dreamscapes is a short story collection by American author Stephen King, published in 1993.
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"You Know They Got a Hell of a Band" is a 1992 horror short story by American writer Stephen King. It was first published January 1992 in the horror anthology Shock Rock and later included in King's collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes. It concerns a young couple on a road trip in Oregon when they accidentally wander into a small town inhabited by dead rock and roll legends.
"The Road Virus Heads North" is a short story by Stephen King. The story first appeared in 999, an anthology published in 1999 and edited by Al Sarrantonio. In 2002, it was collected in King's Everything's Eventual.
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The Return of the Living Dead is a 1985 American comedy horror film written and directed by Dan O'Bannon from a story by Rudy Ricci, John Russo, and Russell Streiner, and starring Clu Gulager, James Karen, Thom Matthews, and Don Calfa. The film tells the story of how a warehouse owner, accompanied by his two employees, mortician friend and a group of teenage punks, deal with the accidental release of a horde of unkillable, brain-hungry zombies onto an unsuspecting town.
"Dedication" is a short story by Stephen King first published as part of the 1988 short story anthology Dark Visions and reprinted in King's 1993 short story collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes.
"The House on Maple Street" is a science fiction short story by American writer Stephen King, published in his collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes. The first volume of the anthology's audiobook includes the story, read by the author's wife, Tabitha King.
"The Fifth Quarter" is a short story by American author Stephen King, originally published in the April 1972 issue of Cavalier and later collected in King's 1993 collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes. It was filmed as an episode of the TNT miniseries Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King.
"Herbert West–Reanimator" is a horror short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was written between October 1921 and June 1922. It was first serialized in February through July 1922 in the amateur publication Home Brew. The story was the basis of the 1985 horror film Re-Animator and its sequels, in addition to numerous other adaptations in various media.
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